“Eighteenth-Century Frontiers”

Testing Limits • Crossing Boundaries • Claiming Spaces

October 12 & 13, 2018

Holiday Inn Sioux Falls – City Centre, Sioux Falls, SD

Proposal Deadline: June 15, 2018

The Conference

The 2018 meeting of MWASECS, the Midwestern affiliate of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, will be held in Sioux Falls, SD, on October 12 and 13, 2018. The conference hotel and venue will be the Holiday Inn Sioux Falls – City Centre, located within walking distance of a wide assortment of restaurants, shops, and entertainment in downtown Sioux Falls.

The Theme

Drawing upon the conference’s location in South Dakota, the theme of MWASECS 2018 is “Eighteenth-Century Frontiers.” We interpret the term “frontiers” broadly to include not just the physical boundaries of space and empire, but also advances in science, religion, and human understanding writ large. The very term “frontier” implies the notion of limits and the demarcation of boundaries between the known and the unknown. Accordingly, this conference seeks to explore the manifold ways this liminal space of the “frontier” was tested, mapped, challenged, and transcended during the long eighteenth century.

The Speaker

Our keynote speaker will be Dr. Sean Moore from the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Moore, whose research focuses on postcolonial, economic, and book history approaches to Restoration and eighteenth-century literature, will present work from his current book project Slavery and the Making of the Early American Library, which studies how the transatlantic trade in British texts was financed by colonial slave traders and enabled by the consumer habits of slave owners. Dr. Moore currently serves as the editor of Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Proposals

We invite proposals for individual papers, panels, or roundtables on any aspect of researching or teaching the long eighteenth century (1660-1830). We welcome proposals from all disciplines dealing with any facet of eighteenth-century literature, history, art, language, science, politics, or culture. We especially encourage submissions that address the conference’s theme of “Eighteenth-Century Frontiers” and its complex range of associations: discovery, innovation, exploration, exploitation, rebellion, revolution, resistance, and liberation.

Paper proposals should include a brief abstract of the paper (no more than 250 words), along with the presenter’s name, affiliation, and email address. Panel proposals should include three to four papers united by a common theme, while roundtable discussions should include no more than six presentations focused on a particular topic. Panel and roundtable proposals should include the panel/roundtable title; the titles and abstracts of each paper/presentation; the names, affiliations, and email addresses of presenters; and the name, affiliation, and email address of the organizer and primary contact.